simply gorgeous

i sort of stumbled into a small cache of 1950's cards recently.  there was one card in particular that i was after, and it was included in a lot with about a dozen others. i was somewhat surprised when this beauty fell out of the package.

that would be a 1953 bowman color gil hodges card, and it is pretty as heck, even with the pinholes.  it' features the type of photo that might have been used in the 1957 topps set - full of color with the old ballpark on full display.  ebbets field shines in the background with the outfield advertising, especially the schaefer beer sign. i understand that the sign would light up its 'h' if a player reached base on a hit, and it would light up one of its 'e's if the player reached by error.  that's a great way to get several thousand people to fixate on your sign.

here's the back of the card which is really bright.

so happy to have this card.

there was one other 1953 bowman color dodger card in the lot, and it was fellow boy of summer carl furillo's

a bit more damaged and without as colorful a background, it's still nice.  the back is a bit more worn than that of the hodges card

the person who wrote the text was spot on - furillo bounced back in 1953 in a huge way. he led the league with a .344 batting average, was 3rd in doubles, and 5th in slugging percentage and ops.

as for the cards, they are the 3rd and 4th dodger cards i have from the set, two of which (the pee wee reese and the hodges) sit firmly in my top ten-ish favorite dodger cards in my collection. and to think the acquisition of the hodges card was a happy byproduct of a purchase of a different card.  i'll show that card in a couple of weeks or so...

a 52 card pick up, 13 at a time

not too long ago, i showed off some new to me steve garvey cards.  one of those came from a deck of playing cards - the dodgers' version of the 2005 baseball hero deck.  i later went out and bought the whole deck of cards, and figured they were worth showing off.

i noted in the title that it was a 52 card pick up, but actually, there are 55 cards in the set.  three 'jokers' are included - long time managers walter alston and tommy lasorda, along with even longer-time broadcaster, vin scully.

each suit is broken up into specific teams/eras of the franchise, with the clubs focusing on the brooklyn years - and primarily the 'boys of summer' years of the late 1940's and early 1950's.  let's see what we have in this suit.  aces are low in this deck, as the card values mirror the fielding positions...

don newcombe as the ace of the staff, plus roy campanella behind the plate. gil hodges, jackie robinson, billy cox, and pee wee reese make up the infield, with hall of famers zack wheat and duke snider sharing the outfield with rightfielder carl furillo.  the high cards have dazzy vance, clem labine, and carl erskine in the bullpen, plus jake daubert coming off the bench.

most of these cards represent the latter years of the brooklyn franchise, with the outliers being zack wheat, dazzy vance, and jake daubert. it's nice to see them getting some attention though.

this is daubert's first appearance on the blog, so i'll go ahead and note that he was the first franchise player to win the mvp award (1913), and the second to win a batting title (also 1913) after dan brouthers was the first in 1893.  daubert followed up that season by winning the batting title again in 1914.

guess who sent me these cards...

i am guessing that nick at dime boxes kept a copy of this 1999 topps stadium club chan ho park card

for his collection before sending one to me.  it's the type of whimsical card that i would add to a trade package before sending it his way, if it weren't a dodger card that i needed.  shortly after he burst onto the scene, nick became one of my favorite trade partners largely because of how much fun it is to put a trade package together for him.  however, the stuff he sends in return is always great, too.

here's a 1999 skybox premium raul mondesi card

if you look at that card a certain way, it looks like rauuuuuuuuuuul is running backwards.  pick up your coach, raul - don't look at the ball.

before target red bordered parallels, there were still red bordered parallels.  this is a 2003 topps bazooka chad billingsley red bordered parallel.

this was before billingsley became seemingly susceptible to injury, and had all the promise in the world.  i am hoping for a big comeback from bills in 2015, but it doesn't look like it will be with the dodgers.

how about a 2004 topps cracker jack jose lima card?

the late jose lima was the only dodger between orel hershiser (in 1988) and derek lowe (in 2009) to win a postseason game.  he shut out the cardinals in the 2004 nlds to break an 0-8 postseason skid for the dodgers.

here's a 1996 topps stadium club antonio osuna card that i love for a couple of reasons.

first, it shows the license plate that osuna wore around his neck (it's askew on the left neckline of his jersey). i remember watching osuna pitch on tv in one of his first appearances and seeing that thing sway around like a tire swing.  you will have to remember that this is the mid 1990's, before there were a bunch of big pendants on chains worn by athletes during games.  the other reason that i really like this card is that i am pretty certain that padre first base coach davey lopes is lurking in the background.

here's the guy that lopes replaced as the dodgers' first base coach a few years ago on a 1986 fleer star sticker card.  it is, of course, mariano duncan

duncan was supposed to replace bill russell as the dodger shortstop when he came up in 1985.  while he was the team's primary shortstop that year, things didn't quite work out after that as tommy lasorda turned out to not be much of a fan.  duncan spent the entire 1988 championship season in the minors, but eventually won world series rings with the reds in 1990 and the yankees in 1996.

outfielder mike marshall, seen here on his 1989 topps uk mini card,

was a part of the dodgers' 1988 world championship team (he hit .231 with a homer in the fall classic against the a's), but his final postseason appearance came with the red sox in 1990.

here's the last card of this post, a 1977-84 renata gallaso carl furillo card

it was a great card to see in the trade package for many reasons - it's a carl furillo card, and there aren't too many of those; it's a card that i didn't previously have; and it features the right-handed furillo posing as a lefty.  it's the type of card that i would send to nick if i didn't need it for my collection.  thanks nick!

sunday morning target dodgers

here are 14 more cards (all from the same sheet) from the 1990 target dodgers set.  you know what that means, the 15th card on the sheet will get its own post later today.  let's see what baseball reference call tell me about these folks.

i'll start with the star of the sheet, carl furillo

a nice photo selection for skoonj there.  probably one of the more candid cards in the set.  furillo, of course, was the right fielder for the dodgers during their 'boys of summer' days.  he led the national league with a .344 batting average in 1953.

al epperly

epperly made his big league debut as a cub in 1938.  he pitched in 9 games compiling a record of 2-0.  he didn't appear in the majors again until 1950 when, as a dodger, he pitched in 5 games without recording a decision.

neal 'mickey' finn

neal 'mickey' finn's real name was cornelius francis finn.  he made his big league debut with the brooklyn robins in 1930 and played with the team for three seasons.  he played mostly second base for the team, and appeared in a career high 118 games in 1931.

larry french

this is a guy i know about.  he finished up his 14 year big league career with the dodgers in 1941 and '42.  before that, he pitched for the pirates and the cubs, for whom he appeared in the 1935 and 1938 world series.  in the 1935 fall classic, french took 2 losses, and was the game 6 pitcher for the cubs who made it through 8.2 innings before giving up goose goslin's series winning base hit.  as a dodger, french helped the club to the 1941 world series after pitching in just 6 games for brooklyn following his arrival off of the waiver wire in august.  i had heard about french before because of a postseason oddity that year - he pitched in two games against the yankees, recording three outs by facing just one batter.  in game 3, he came in with one out and runners on first and third in the eighth, but got bill dickey (who had homered off of french in the 1935 world series) to ground into a double play.  the next day, french entered the game with two outs in the 4th inning and phil rizzuto on second. rizzuto proceeded to run the yankees out of the inning (caught stealing, i presume), and french had his third out of the series by retiring just one batter.

dick gray

gray, who played for the dodgers in 1958 and 1959, is best known for being the first third baseman in los angeles dodger history, and for hitting the first home run in los angeles dodger history.  he also had the misfortune of being traded to saint louis during the 1959 season, and so did not get a chance to play in the first world series for the los angeles dodgers.

hunkey hines

hunkey's real name was henry, by the way.  he played in two games for the brooklyn grooms in 1895 (the only big league games of his career), so it's pretty cool that there is a photo of him in uniform.  he was 2 for 8 with 2 walks in those games, for a nice lifetime obp of .400.

jim hughes

hughes pitched for the dodgers exclusively as a reliever from 1952 until may of 1956 when his contract was purchased by the cubs.  in that time, he appeared in 143 games including a league best 60 in 1954. as the dodgers' "fireman", had there been an official statistic, hughes would have led the league in saves that year as well.  after he retired from baseball, he became a more traditional fireman in chicago.

frank kitson

kitson was with the superbas from 1900 through 1902, amassing a record of 53-37 in those three seasons.  baseball reference notes that he 'jumped' from brooklyn to detroit after the 1902 season, and  so was a teammate of ty cobb when the georgia peach joined the club in 1905.

elmer klumpp

klumpp played in 5 games for the dodgers during the 1937 season, going 1 for 11 with 2 rbi.  his only other big league experience had come in 1934 when he played in 12 games for the senators.

alejandro pena

if you were to name dodger pitchers who led the league in era, i am sure you would get koufax and kershaw, but what about johnny podres, dazzy vance, kevin brown, and don sutton?  or alejandro pena, who led the national league in era in 1984?  it's too bad a shoulder injury late in that season pretty much ended his career as a starter, although he did have success as a reliever over the remainder of his career.

ted savage

savage played for the dodgers for just one season - 1968.  he hit .206 with a pair of home runs, the first of which was a pinch hit blast.

tom seats

seats pitched for the dodgers in 1945 after seeing big league action with the tigers in 1940.  in his lone year with the dodgers, he appeared in 31 games, starting 18, and threw 6 complete games, 2 of which were shutouts.  his record was 10-7 with a 4.36 era, but the most interesting thing i found about seats is that on september 3, 1945, he won both ends of a doubleheader.  after pitching a shutout against the braves in the first game, seats returned to pitch a scoreless 10th in the nightcap and earn the win when the dodgers scored in the bottom of the inning.

daryl spencer

spencer was acquired by the dodgers in 1961 and split time between third and short for them until he was traded away early in the 1963 season.  all told, he played in 144 games as a dodger, with 10 homers.  his first two home runs as a dodger were of the walk off variety, including one against juan marichal and the arch-rival giants.

nick willhite

i have told the tale of nick willhite, dodger double dipper before.  it's the perfect segue to the next post which features the 15th player from this sheet of cards who also double dipped.  stay tuned...

did i really just do that?

i had a hard time believing that i completed the dodgers' 1956 topps team set.  now, i am in a state of disbelief about doing the same for the 1955 bowman team set.

the last two cards i needed were carl furillo

and billy loes

i was helped in my endeavor by the fact that sandy koufax, jackie robinson, and duke snider were nowhere to be found on the checklist.  still, roy campanella, gil hodges, and pee wee reese were.  i count this as no small feat, and as the team set it took me the longest to finish - i got my first 1955 bowman card in 1979 from a collector in the neighborhood who gave me don hoak's card in exchange for some 1979 giants.  one of my favorite trades ever.

some beauties of a bowman

not too long ago, i posted about dodger double dipper clyde king.  i used a 1952 bowman card of his in the post - a card that i had purchased but not yet received.  i figured i might as well show the card again once it was in my possession, and i will, but first let's see this 1952 bowman cal abrams card that accompanied king on his journey.

abrams' card is superior to king's

but any 1950's bowman card is a fantastic add to my collection.  here are some other ones that i have picked up over the past few months.

1951 bowman carl furillo

and a 1951 bowman charlie dressen

i picked up the dressen at the most recent card show i attended.  i like how the card is cropped.  it looks like dressen is poking at the boundary of his two-dimensional cage.  kind of a-ha-ish.

here's a 1954 bowman george shuba

according to baseball reference, george 'shotgun' shuba was earning $13k in 1954.  i wonder if that's why he made his s look like a dollar sign.

i prefer his 1954 bowman card to his 1955 bowman card, but i bought one anyway at the same show i found the dressen

it's somewhat distressed, but that's ok.  1955 was a magical year for the dodgers, and i am very close to completing this team set.  1955 was shuba's last year in the majors, so he went out on top - making his final big league appearance in game 4 of the world series.

chico fernandez's rookie card is in much better shape

fernandez didn't debut for the dodgers until 1956, and his dodger career included only 34 apperances. he was traded to the phillies in 1957.

walt moryn

was traded after the 1955 season to the cubs, but still didn't appear in the 1955 fall classic.

charlie neal

like fernandez, made his debut in 1956. he stayed with the dodgers until he was traded to the expansion mets in december of 1961.  he also missed the 1955 world series, but he did stay with the dodgers long enough to play in the 1959 world series.

ken lehman

didn't pitch for the dodgers in 1955 (he spent the year in the minors), and the orioles purchased his contract in 1957.  he debuted in 1952, however, and got to pitch two innings in that year's world series against the yankees.

i was somewhat dismissive of early bowman during my formative collecting years.  now i recognize that these cards are pretty f'n cool.

i gave myself a break

this was the third weekend in a row with a card show in town.  i went to the first two, but sat this one out.  at the first show, i picked up that 1955 topps sandy koufax, and at the next one i got mostly some odds and ends.  a few needs like this 1956 topps carl furillo card

and this 1955 bowman erv palica

but mostly dime box stuff like double plays and cards featuring dodger stadium.  here's chavez ravine providing the backdrop on luis gonzalez's 1993 upper deck sp card

fellow astro ken oberkfell gets a dodger stadium backdrop on his 1990 leaf card as well.

the astros' unis look nice in dodger stadium.

here's orel hershiser with pretty much the same background as oberkfell

while darryl strawberry's 1993 ud sp card gives us a glimpse of the visitor dugout and camera well

on garret anderson's 2000 pacific crown collection card

we see a bit more of the dugout, and ga continues to give us a tour of the stadium on his 2000 pacific omega card

it's blurry, but we get the third base side camera well and a bit of the field level scoreboard.  then, mr. anderson shows us the multi-colored levels of seating behind home plate on his 1998 fleer tradition card

while david segui is enjoying a cold beverage on the visitor's dugout step on his 1998 fleer tradition card.

i picked up a couple of phillies in dodger stadium, too.  here's pat the bat on a 2001 upper deck rookie roundup card

and vance worley on a 2012 bowman card

it doesn't look like the phillies drew a crowd for either game.  finally, i picked up another copy of the 2011 topps heritage news flashback card featuring dodger stadium

i figured i would show the back this time, if for no other reason than to show that the cartoon makes no sense.

i'm glad i passed on the show this past weekend.  the next one is only three weeks away and i have a lot of cards to put away, package up, and cross off of lists before i head out to another show.